Review: SteamWorld Heist – PS Vita (8.3/10)

I was a big fan of Steamworld Dig and loved the overall idea of the game and it felt new, even using aspects of Spelunky but the graphics and world set it apart and it was fast and fluid. Now Image Form is back with a new title in the Steamworld series called Steamworld Heist and the game is a blast to play no pun intended.

You are Piper Faraday and with your ragtag team of steam bots you are out for adventure and exploring the overworld map. Missions come from talking to people like Bartenders or a drunk train driver as many others in your adventure. The cast is all sorts of class types and each has their own agenda for joining once recruited into the gang and classes do matter.

Vanguards can take more blows out of any class and the captain is best at inspiring her crew mates around her. The level layouts are mostly random and can be replayed which is a must for the later missions as you could get a chance to get a rare gun that could change the tides of battle.

There are a few issues I had with the game and that was dealing with item management as your inventory always seems small no matter if you been getting the supply crates throughout and a vault or something in the ship to store items you wanted to save instead of selling would have helped.

The last thing was aiming which sometimes is a pain. When aiming with any weapon your aiming is constantly moving up and down which is easy to see with a scoped weapon and sometimes can mess up a fight completely. Overall those were my gripes and does bring the game down some but it’s still enjoyable.

The HD graphics look amazing on the PS Vita and lighting is well done but the one thing that makes this game is the music. An actual band performed tracks in the game which you can hear throughout the game like in bars and is so well done and has a Fallout 3/Bioshock vibe to it with a hint of Western.

Another plus are the hats which some give nods to other games like Machinarium if you can spot it and other various hats which are a plenty and don’t count for your equipment slots thankfully. Your bots have a max level of 10 and after each level up gain a skill which could be health or a new version of aprevious ability and though grinding isn’t needed per-say it is to be noted it does help with gaining these skills but also getting better guns since that goes into the damage.

You can also use a melee attack but that should be a last move since gun always do more damage. I did see too many countdown missions but once you’ve done a few you get the hang of them all pretty much. Cover is extremely important as your cover items will take the damage and not your bot unless they get a well placed shot and vice versa like for instance barrels or under areas. Just don’t hide next to a flame barrel because well it goes boom.

Conclusion

Steamworld Heist is fun to play and although there are a few issues holding it back, fans of turn-based strategy games and the franchise itself should get it. Gameplay is fast and fluid and the loading is very quick on the PS Vita. DLC will be available as well called The Outsider for $4.99 and you get a lot out of it and the character just looks awesome.